Sentry Mode Catches Hit in Parking Lot

[whatthe2]

ok. Something doesn't seem right about that, but I guess it can happen.

I didn’t bother looking at any of the events since I had no damage. But, sure enough, it filled up.

 

[brkaus]

View attachment 437103

I didn’t bother looking at any of the events since I had no damage. But, sure enough, it filled up.

Cars driving by in the parking lot are “motion” and thus detectable events.

 

[Diamond Hills]

Does sentry mode constantly record when the car is parked, or by motion only?

 

[Need]

Does sentry mode constantly record when the car is parked, or by motion only?

If it is on, it constantly records (just like dashcam) to the 1 hour buffer. When it detects movement around the car, it will save off the 10 min clips.

 

[Knightshade]

To clarify-

Sentry never records. Anything. Ever.

Dashcam does.

All sentry does is, if it goes to alert state, move the last 10 minutes of dashcam footage to the sentry folder.... (plus flash the lights, put up the HAL warning, etc).

This is why you can turn on Sentry even without a USB device. It does all the same stuff except the "move the dashcam footage" step.... and then the additional stuff if it goes to alarm state (loud music, alert on the app, etc)


And it's why if you turn off dashcam you get no sentry footage.

 

[Silicon Desert]

More concrete evidence. Less he said she said. Just thinking out loud.

Generally agree. The wife had an interesting thought about this. While yes it might give more proof of fault, in some cases that proof of fault might show intentional road rage causing an accident and prove that the other party is mostly at fault instead of shared fault, which of course increases the amount of a claim (resulting in more money to attorneys). She quoted a couple of cases where that was the outcome. However, I am a fan of dashcams and we have them in all cars.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

the rear sensors are a lot less sensitive than the front sensors... if i back into the parking spot at work - every movement on the parking lot triggers Sentry....even people just walking by several feet away... if i park with the back out - i have no alerts and you literally have to touch the car to trigger sentry... something to consider

 

[srs5694]

To clarify-

Sentry never records. Anything. Ever.

Umm... No, unless you're splitting hairs....

Dashcam does.

Fundamentally, TeslaCam and Sentry Mode are the same thing. The main difference is that the former operates when the car is driving whereas the latter operates when it's parked. There are differences in what triggers a recording to be saved, what's displayed on the center screen, etc., but in terms of recording data from the car's cameras, they work the same.

All sentry does is, if it goes to alert state, move the last 10 minutes of dashcam footage to the sentry folder.... (plus flash the lights, put up the HAL warning, etc).

If Sentry Mode "never records. Anything. Ever" (your words), then "mov[ing] the last 10 minutes of dashcam footage" would be impossible.

Both Sentry Mode and TeslaCam record continuously (with a caveat you note below), creating a 1-hour (IIRC) set of recordings in 1-minute increments. Once that 1-hour buffer is full, the car begins deleting the older recordings in order to make room for new ones. When Sentry Mode is active and the computer thinks something suspicious is happening, the car moves the most recent ten minutes of footage from the rolling 1-hour buffer into a permanent storage location so that it won't be overridden. The same thing happens when you're driving with TeslaCam active and hit the button to save a recording (or sound the horn, with recent software versions and if you've activated that feature). Note also that Sentry Mode has two types of alert states in which recordings are saved. The first ("alert mode") just displays the HAL message, in addition to saving recordings. The second-stage alert is called an "alarm," and it flashes lights and blares music very loudly. The Model 3 owner's manual covers all of this in more detail.

If the car had not been recording continuously, then it would not be able to save recordings of the ten minutes of activity leading up to a trigger event.

This is why you can turn on Sentry even without a USB device. It does all the same stuff except the "move the dashcam footage" step.... and then the additional stuff if it goes to alarm state (loud music, alert on the app, etc)

This is correct; it is possible to activate Sentry Mode without a USB drive. The result is that the HAL display will appear on an alert and the lights and music will appear on an alarm, but of course there's no recorded footage.

And it's why if you turn off dashcam you get no sentry footage.

Are you sure about this? I thought the two features could be activated and de-activated independently of one another, despite the fact that they rely on the same underlying functions. I don't see any mention in the owner's manual of a requirement to activate TeslaCam before Sentry Mode can be used, although of course this is something that might not be mentioned there, or I could have overlooked it.

 

[Knightshade]

Umm... No, unless you're splitting hairs....

Or dealing in facts.

Fundamentally, TeslaCam and Sentry Mode are the same thing.

No they aren't. At all.


Dashcam records camera footage. Sentry never does.

Dashcam requires a USB recording device. Sentry does not.

As just 2 of the most obvious examples.

The main difference is that the former operates when the car is driving whereas the latter operates when it's parked.

This is fundamentally wrong.

The dashcam icon appears even when parked. And remains on (unless you manually turn it off or remove the storage media) as long as the car is awake.

Because that's the feature that records video.


The sentry icon appears when parked, regardless of having storage or recording anything at all, so long as you have the sentry feature enabled for that location.

There are differences in what triggers a recording to be saved, what's displayed on the center screen, etc., but in terms of recording data from the car's cameras, they work the same.

Only in the sense it's the dashcam feature always doing the recording, and never sentry.

Which is what I originally said.

And your owners manual says too.

If Sentry Mode "never records. Anything. Ever" (your words), then "mov[ing] the last 10 minutes of dashcam footage" would be impossible.

That is complete nonsense.

Moving an already-recorded (by dashcam) file to another place on the drive has nothing to do with recording anything.

So again sentry never records anything

Recording is not part of sentry at all.

Moving files Dashcam recorded is though- if you have dashcam on and a storage device attached.

Both Sentry Mode and TeslaCam record continuously

No, they really don't.

Dashcam records.

Sentry does not. Ever.

If the car had not been recording continuously, then it would not be able to save recordings of the ten minutes of activity leading up to a trigger event.

Right.

But it was dashcam doing the recording. At it always does.

Sentry doesn't record. At all. Which again is why it works even with no storage attached at all

This is correct; it is possible to activate Sentry Mode without a USB drive. The result is that the HAL display will appear on an alert and the lights and music will appear on an alarm, but of course there's no recorded footage.[?QUOTE]

Right. Because recorded footage requires the dashcam feature to have recorded it. Which requires a USB key.

Are you sure about this? I thought the two features could be activated and de-activated independently of one another, despite the fact that they rely on the same underlying functions.

Nope. Try turning off dashcam and see if Sentry records anything after that.


As the user manual notes-

Dashcam only works when Model 3 is powered on

If the car is on (ie awake) then dashcam records.

Sentry keeps the car "awake" when parked (and sentry is on) and as the manual explains, if the car is awake, dashcam is recording.

Sentry will move those files dashcam recorded if it goes to alert or alarm states (and dashcam is working with a functional USB storage media in the car)

 

[srs5694]

Or dealing in facts.

I see. You're defining "Sentry Mode" differently than I (and Tesla) do, to move its video-recording feature (a key feature, by most peoples' reckoning, I think) outside of the scope of what Sentry Mode does. By your definition, you're probably correct, but I disagree with your definition, and I think most people would, too.

 

[Knightshade]

I see. You're defining "Sentry Mode" differently than I (and Tesla) do

Nope.

I'm pointing out how the car actually works.

If you turn off dashcam (the camera icon) then nothing is ever recorded to your USB storage.

Regardless of having sentry turned on.

Because sentry does not record anything. Ever. Dashcam does.

Not sure how you're confused on this. You can test it yourself.

Turn off dashcam. Leave sentry on.

See if it records anything after turning dashcam off, no matter how many times you make it go to alert.

(spoiler- it won't)

I
, to move its video-recording feature (a key feature, by most peoples' reckoning, I think) outside of the scope of what Sentry Mode does.

because as I'm pointing out, sentry doesn't HAVE a video recording feature.

Dashcam does.

Sentry leverages that fact in a couple of ways:

1) It keeps the car awake. Meaning, as Tesla explains to you and I cited to you from the user manual, Dashcam will keep recording.

2) It moves the last 10 minutes of dashcam recorded files to the sentry folder if it alerts.


What sentry never does is record anything on it's own. Which again you can confirm by leaving Sentry on, but turning dashcam off.

Nothing further gets recorded in this state.

Because sentry does not record anything

Dashcam does.